"Fortunate Son" (CCR) interpretation

Brian Miller

Brian Miller

New member
Hey everyone!

My father and I (Escher's Enigma) are back in the studio. Our recent album For a Moment was mostly originals, but our interpretation of "Sweet Child O' Mine" had critics and listeners talking. So we decided to go make an entire album of interpretations of classic songs.

We're deep into the process with "Fortunate Son" by CCR. Right now we are not quite sure of all the elements. We keep adding little things to move the song along, but I think at this point we could use another set of ears or 10.



This is *only* a mix at the moment. Thoughts on mix and/or arrangement are much appreciated!

Brian
 
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I listened to the CCR song. I'm not sure what you are going for. The original is more violent and rough, and spat out. My advice is try to replicate the original so you know the song well, and then look for your own twist.
 
Tobe, thank you for listening. Both of us know and have covered the song in its original form many times. That's why this is an 'interpretation' and not a 'cover'. The goal is to bring out the weight of the lyrics by setting them against a softer background, as we did with "Sweet Child O' Mine".
 
Hi Brian,

You are doing well. I do find it a bit warm and comforting though, which sounds like what your "twist" is. It would be nice to hear some form of madness. Perhaps you can come up with a comforting kind of madness :)
 
I like it and think it sounds pretty good so far.

The only thing that really stood out for me was the long build up to the drums. I would probably have them come in at the solo part so they have more time to establish themselves in the song before the wind down in the finale. They just seemed like a bit too short a burst, afterthought kind of thing, in their current state and never really developed.

That's all I've got. Enjoyed the listen though. One of my favourite bands and a cracking song.

:thumbs up:
 
I dig the chilled vibe, and the tone of everything is nice. One thing that stuck out to me was the piano sound. It has almost no sustain, which sounds very unnatural to me. I'm not sure if that's what you were going for, but I wouldn't think so, considering the acoustic nature of the recording. If you're using a VST for that, I personally would search for a better sound. Actually, the tone of it didn't bother me; it was just the lack of sustain that sounded weird. Maybe it's a compression setting you have or something?

Anyway, other that that, the performances were all great, and it's sounding nice. Maybe bring in some vocal harmonies at a point?
 
Mr Clean said:
The only thing that really stood out for me was the long build up to the drums. I would probably have them come in at the solo part so they have more time to establish themselves in the song before the wind down in the finale. They just seemed like a bit too short a burst, afterthought kind of thing, in their current state and never really developed.
Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for your feedback. Obviously we purposely left the drums til the very end as a punctuation, or as you said, a burst. They weren't intended to be 'developed' but I'll keep it in mind, thanks!


famous beagle said:
I dig the chilled vibe, and the tone of everything is nice. One thing that stuck out to me was the piano sound. It has almost no sustain, which sounds very unnatural to me. I'm not sure if that's what you were going for, but I wouldn't think so, considering the acoustic nature of the recording. If you're using a VST for that, I personally would search for a better sound. Actually, the tone of it didn't bother me; it was just the lack of sustain that sounded weird. Maybe it's a compression setting you have or something?

Anyway, other that that, the performances were all great, and it's sounding nice. Maybe bring in some vocal harmonies at a point?
Click to expand...

Thanks for listening and your feedback. The piano is a VST, which I usually don't do. But when I was working on the arrangement with my MIDI controller I found that tone and just loved the way it fit in the song, so I never went back to re-record with a real piano like I usually do. I'll look into the VST module for a better sustain.

And yes, I intend to add some subtle harmonies, but not too much. I liked the raw, stripped down feel and don't want to layer up to many things.
 
I noticed the lack of sustain on the piano, but didn't bother me that much. The synth part that came in early was unneeded. I wanted the drums to come in earlier (the first repeat of chorus before the lead).
I think that for a live version, you coudl repeat the 'full band' chorus, and then just end with just one acoustic 'it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son.'
 
mjbphotos said:
I noticed the lack of sustain on the piano, but didn't bother me that much. The synth part that came in early was unneeded. I wanted the drums to come in earlier (the first repeat of chorus before the lead).
I think that for a live version, you coudl repeat the 'full band' chorus, and then just end with just one acoustic 'it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son.'
Click to expand...

Really appreciate the feedback. The first synth part was a trial just for kicks. I agree the drums could come in on the first repeat of the chorus. Thanks!
 
Nothing new to add. Sounds great, but I agree that the full band part should be longer. Thanks for the share. This is good stuff.
 
It's a neat idea to "chill out" the original - making it sadder rather than angry. I'm in the minority, but I'd actually think about ditching the electric guitars and drums altogether and find other ways to build momentum. That little high piano ostinato during the "loud" section is cool, for example. Perhaps complement that with some other rhythmic ideas, and maybe some alternative percussion (tambourine, hand drums). Also the vocal seems dry... I'd add some reverb. I guess when I hear this my mind goes to something like Cowboy Junkies or Cat Power - very chilled out and ambient sounding. But it's cool as is, and well sung.
 
I liked it, I really liked when the band came in, but would have liked it earlier OR have it partially come in earlier.
Towards the end, when it went back to acoustic, it sounded a bit empty and quiet for my taste.
But I liked it. I liked it alot. These are just production ideas or nits.
 
Nice

Sounds good to me.

Some ideas:
Maybe some reverb on the piano to move it back in the mix and maybe pan it a little more toward the center. To differentiate it from the guitars.
Maybe do something similar with the guitar solo, too.
Bass is a little muddy and hard to hear, but that may be my room.
The distorted guitars sound a little unnatural to me.
The section where the drums come in: I like the idea, but I'm not sure it works the way it is. I think it would be a strong recording without that section. Or maybe make it longer and don't go back to the quiet part at the end. Kinda like the ending of Freebird (in a good way).

Just some ideas. I'd be interested in hearing the final mix.
 
I love the original. You changed it up considerably, but I really liked it. Guitars sound superb to me - especially the doubled acoustics. Vocals sound good too. Like the reverb (as in hardly any).

Weird thing with the vocal at :47. Autotune or something? Just a weird sounding inflection. A couple more occurrences later.

Love when it kicks in later.

All in all - really good very.
 
Appreciate all the feedback guys. We will experiment with bringing the drums in for the 2nd half of the 2nd chorus (when it picks up in intensity), then dropping them out, then having them come back at the end with a bang. I may experiment with adding length to the final chorus but I think it will just feel like it's dragging if I do that. I've already addressed the piano sustain issue in the VST instrument, and I'm playing with a slightly more ambient reverb for the piano.

TripleM: Thanks! Reverb is always a personal taste. Sometimes I like a lot, and sometimes I don't. For this song I was using reverb mostly as glue rather than space. It felt appropriate for the intimate, close-up nature of the recording. Regarding the "weird vocal thing" at 0:47, do you mean the word 'one' in the line "I ain't no fortunate one..." that ends each chorus? Because I've heard it too, and that's the way it was recorded. There's no autotune. There's actually some sort of almost-whistle that occurred each and every time on that word. It must have been the way I was standing in relation to the mic. I automated some surgical EQ to deal with the whistle, but the result may be what you're hearing as an "autotune" sound. I may have to go back and re-record the choruses.

the_volk: I think you may need to check your room acoustics and/or monitor setup, based on how you're describing things. I have a very good monitoring situation and have checked the mixes in studio headphones, consumer headphones, earbuds, consumer speakers, car speakers, etc. Your critiques don't apply to any of these situations, nor have any others in this thread echoed those sentiments, which leads me to believe it's your listening station. But I appreciate you taking the time!
 
Brian Miller said:
Regarding the "weird vocal thing" at 0:47, do you mean the word 'one' in the line "I ain't no fortunate one..." that ends each chorus? Because I've heard it too, and that's the way it was recorded. There's no autotune.
Click to expand...

It was on the "me" on the line "it ain't me" - second time through. I listened on a different system tonight and it's clear there is no autotune. It's just way you sang the word. It doesn't even sound weird to me anymore. Sorry for the false alarm.
 
The acoustic guitars sound fantastic here, very clear and present. Nice tremolo on the guitar solo. The solo could maybe come up just a half a smidge. I like the full-on shout chorus at the end, it actually has a little early 90's alterna-rock feel to it.

I can hear a little bit of room reflections on the vocals. I think the only reason I can hear it at all is because everything is pretty dry, there isn't much atmosphere to any of the instruments except the guitar solo. Maybe a subtle reverb of some sort on a few elements would add something. The song doesn't call for being drenched in a hall verb or anything, but it might be worth experimenting with a small or medium space reverb in there somewhere.

I could totally hear this in one of those introspective montages on a cable drama. It's very well recorded, and well mixed. Glad I popped in to listen.
 
i like the arrangement of this tune. Great slow build up and crescendo with the chord stabs and piano. then it breaks down low again. Very tasty and we'll planned out. I though the quality of the recording and mix was fantastic.
good song all the way around.
 
Big CCR fan (who isn't I guess?). I like how you've re-imagined this song. The arrangement and staging is cool. I kinda wanted drums earlier in the song, even in a subtle way, but that's subjective and can't really be faulted.

The mix itself sounds good to me. Everything is clear and the tones are all pleasing. I like the overall intimate feeling. The only exception, and this is purely subjective, is that I thought the piano could have a bit more ambiance to it (not reverb, but rather a subtle delay, or if reverb, a very short, roomy one). It's not exactly a nit though, just a thought.

Nice effort. It sounds like this was (and is) a lot of fun.
 
The more i listen, the more i like it.
Being so familiar with the original brings about certain expectations and makes it a bit tough to accept the song on it's own merits. Kind of akin to this beautiful girl with long flowing hair that cuts it all off.
You're going what happened? It takes a few days for her beauty to shine in your eyes as you get used to the new look.
Anyway, I've had those few days and today listened again on my big monitors with some volume.

I love it!
 
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